Electrolytic vessel with reinforcing components

ABSTRACT

There is provided a product that generally relates to hydrometallurgical equipment and more particularly to a reinforced electrolytic vessel for refining non-ferrous metals. The vessel includes a core shaped to hold an electrolytic liquid, the core comprising a rectangular core base and four walls extending upwardly from peripheral edges of the core base; and at least two flat elongated pultruded fiberglass rebars embedded in each wall of the core.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present product generally relates to hydrometallurgical equipmentand more particularly to reinforced electrolytic vessels.

BACKGROUND

Hydrometallurgical processes make use of electrolytic vessels or tanksfor refining non-ferrous metals (including copper, nickel, zinc, nickel,cobalt, manganese and other precious metals) with multiple rows ofelectrodes plunged in an acidic electrolytic bath contained in theelectrolytic vessels. Materials of the electrolytic cells must thereforestand up to highly corrosive conditions and heavy weight of theelectrodes and bath.

Known materials used for designing electrolytic vessels include steelreinforced concrete and composite material such as polymer concrete, orglass fiber and carbon fiber-reinforced corrosion-resistant polymers.However, concrete and polymer concrete vessel walls can crack due to themechanical constraints imposed by the bath and electrodes and internalstresses while the concrete ages. In addition, unbonded or bondedsurface liners can be used to cover the inner surface of the vessel.However, liners are prone to damage from impacts of electrodes and mayalso crack while aging, be altered by corrosion or suffer bad adhesiondue to the curing during the casting process of the vessel, therebyenabling the corrosive bath to contact the unprotected walls of thevessel.

There is thus a need for an improved technology that can overcome atleast some of the drawbacks of what is known in the field.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, there is provided a reinforced electrolytic vessel forrefining non-ferrous metals. The vessel includes: a core shaped to holdan electrolytic liquid, the core comprising a rectangular core base andfour walls extending upwardly from peripheral edges of the core base;and at least two elongated fiberglass rebars embedded in each wall ofthe core.

In another aspect, there is provided a reinforced electrolytic vesselfor refining non-ferrous metals which includes: a core shaped to hold anelectrolytic liquid, the core comprising a rectangular core base andfour walls extending upwardly from peripheral edges of the core base;and a multiple-layer fiberglass-based envelope surrounding the core, theenvelope comprising a fiberglass-based layer.

In another aspect, there is provided a reinforced electrolytic vesselfor refining non-ferrous metals which includes: a core shaped to hold anelectrolytic liquid, the core comprising a rectangular core base andfour walls extending upwardly from peripheral edges of the core base; atleast two flat elongated pultruded fiberglass rebars embedded in eachwall of the core; and a multiple-layer fiberglass-based envelopesurrounding the core, the envelope comprising a fiberglass-based layer.

In another aspect, there is provided a reinforced electrolytic vesselfor refining non-ferrous metals which includes: a core shaped to hold anelectrolytic liquid, the core comprising a rectangular core base andfour walls extending upwardly from peripheral edges of the core base; amultiple-layer fiberglass-based envelope surrounding the core, theenvelope comprising a fiberglass-based layer; and at least two elongatedfiberglass rebars embedded in the multiple-layer fiberglass-basedenvelope.

In another aspect, there is provided a reinforced electrolytic vesselfor refining non-ferrous metals which includes: a core shaped to hold anelectrolytic liquid, the core comprising a rectangular core base andfour walls extending upwardly from peripheral edges of the core base; amultiple-layer fiberglass-based envelope surrounding the core, theenvelope comprising a continuous fiberglass-based layer; and a pluralityof elongated pultruded fiberglass rebars embedded in each wall or thecore, in the multiple-layer fiberglass-based envelope or in thecombination thereof.

In another aspect, there is provided a reinforced electrolytic vesselfor refining metals, such as non-ferrous metals, which includes: a coreshaped to hold an electrolytic liquid, the core comprising a rectangularcore base and four walls extending upwardly from peripheral edges of thecore base, the core comprising a matrix comprising concrete and/orpolymer material; and a plurality of elongated pultruded rebars embeddedin the matrix and distributed there within to reduce cracking thereof,wherein the rebars are optionally provided as at least two rebars ineach wall, as flat elongated rebars, as fiberglass rebars, as rebarsarranged in spaced apart pairs, and/or as rebars having one or morefeatures as described herein and/or as illustrated in the figures.

In another aspect, there is provided a method of reinforcingelectrolytic vessel for refining metals, such as non-ferrous metals,which includes: providing a plurality of elongated pultruded rebarsembedded in a matrix to form a core shaped to hold an electrolyticliquid, the core comprising a rectangular core base and four wallsextending upwardly from peripheral edges of the core base; and theplurality of elongated rebars being distributed within the matrix toreduce cracking thereof, wherein the rebars are optionally provided asat least two rebars in each wall, as flat elongated rebars, asfiberglass rebars, as rebars arranged in spaced apart pairs, and/or asrebars having one or more features as described herein and/or asillustrated in the figures.

It should be understood that other aspects of the reinforced vessel aredescribed hereinafter and may be combined with any other aspectsdescribed above. For example, depending on the tensile strength neededin each wall of the vessel, the vessel may include at least one flatelongated pultruded fiberglass rebar embedded in at least one wall ofthe core, at least a part of the multiple-layer fiberglass basedenvelope or a combination thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the electrolytic vessel and components thereof arerepresented in and will be further understood in connection with thefollowing figures.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electrolytic vessel used for refiningnon-ferrous metals.

FIG. 2 is a semi-transparent cross-sectional view along line II of FIG.1 according to an embodiment of the reinforced vessel.

FIG. 3 is a semi-transparent cross-sectional view along line III of FIG.2.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view along line IV of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a view of portion V of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a semi-transparent cross-sectional view along line VI of FIG.1 according to another embodiment of the reinforced vessel.

FIG. 7 is a semi-transparent cross-sectional view along line VII of FIG.6.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view along line VIII of FIG. 6.

FIG. 9 is a view of portion IX of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a semi-transparent cross-sectional view along line X of FIG.1 according to another embodiment of the reinforced vessel.

FIG. 11 is a semi-transparent cross-sectional view along line XI of FIG.10.

FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view of the electrolytic vesselshowing the inside hull made of fiberglass, with the semi-transparentinner core made of polymer concrete reinforced with embedded rebars,completed with an outer hull of fiberglass (i.e. envelope).

While the invention will be described in conjunction with exampleembodiments, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit thescope of the invention to these embodiments. On the contrary, it isintended to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents as maybe included as defined in the present specification.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 9 relate to a reinforcedelectrolytic vessel including a plurality of flat pultruded fiberglassrebars embedded in each wall of the vessel and a surroundingmultiple-layer fiberglass-based envelope. Flat rebars can offer improvedtensile strength when the vessel walls are subjected to internal andexternal stresses. The number and orientation of the embedded flatpultruded fiberglass rebars may vary and can be adapted according tocertain configurations and materials of the vessel.

Core

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 4, in some embodiments, a vessel 2 includes acore 4 having a rectangular base 6 and four walls 8 extending fromperipheral edges of the core base 6. The core defines a cavity in whichan electrolytic liquid or bath can be received. Optionally, the core maybe made of polymer concrete or prestressed polymer concrete. The vessel2 further comprises a plurality of flat pultruded rebars 10 that may beembedded within each of the four core walls 8.

Rebars

It should be understood that the pultruded rebars of the reinforcedvessel are flat in the sense that their cross-section in a transversedirection is inferior to their cross-section in a longitudinaldirection. It should be understood that the size and shape of each ofthe at least two pultruded rebars of a same wall may be different fromone rebar to the other rebar. Flat pultruded rebars can offer anincreased contact surface with the core (e.g. in comparison to circularrebars) which is available for bonding chemically or mechanically withthe material of the core so as to provide enhanced tensile strength tothe vessel wall.

According to an embodiment of the reinforced vessel, the plurality offlat pultruded rebars of a same vessel wall may include at least twoflat rebars. Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the plurality of flat pultrudedrebars of a same wall 8 may include at least four horizontal flat rebars10, distributed along a height of the wall. Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8,the plurality of pultruded rebars of a same wall may be optionallyorganized in pairs 12 of two opposed rebars spaced-apart from eachother, which may be referred to as “doubled rebars” 12.

According to an embodiment of the reinforced vessel, the plurality offlat pultruded rebars of a same vessel wall may include a flathorizontal rebar near the top of the wall and three (3) vertical rebarsnear the top of the wall. One of the vertical rebars is placed in themiddle of the width of the wall and the two others are spaced apart nearthe outer and inner side of the wall as shown in FIG. 9.

The space between the rebars of a pair 12 may depend for example on athickness of the core wall 8. It should be understood that the doubledflat pultruded rebars may be used in order to increase the moment ofinertia in a transversal direction of the vessel.

It should be understood that the flat rebars can include fiberglass andcan be pultruded according to known pultrusion techniques.

Envelope

According to another embodiment of the reinforced electrolytic vessel,the mechanical resistance of the vessel walls to internal and externalstresses is further improved by the use of a multiple-layerfiberglass-based envelope 14 surrounding the vessel core 4, as seen forexample in FIGS. 4 and 5. The envelope includes a continuousfiberglass-based layer.

Optionally, the multiple-layer fiberglass-based envelope includesmultiple layers of at least one of fiberglass mat, knitted fiberglass,stitched, stitched-mat, knitted-mat and fiberglass woven roving.Optionally, the multiple-layer fiberglass-based envelope may includesuccessive layers of fiberglass mat, knitted fiberglass, stitched,stitched-mat, knitted-mat and fiberglass woven roving. Furtheroptionally, a maximum thickness of the multiple-layer fiberglass-basedenvelope may be between about 8 mm and about 12 mm, optionally 10 mm. Itshould be understood that the choice of fiberglass-based material forthe envelope may depend for example on the desired orientation of thefibers.

Referring to FIG. 4, it should be understood that an inner surface ofthe core 40 corresponds to the combination of an inner surface of thecore walls 42 and a top surface of the core base 44, which could be incontact with the electrodes and electrolytic bath without the presenceof the envelope 14. An outer surface of the core 46 corresponds to thecombination of a remaining external surface of the core walls 48 and abottom surface of the core base 50.

Alternatively, it should be understood that an outer envelope (hull) canbe thinner in terms of chemical protection or structural protection thanthe inner envelope (hull) which is in contact with acid.

It should be also understood that the continuous fiberglass-based layerrefers to a layer including fiberglass layering continuously at leastthe inner surface of the core. For example, a continuous fiberglasswoven roving layer included in the multiple-layer fiberglass-basedenvelope may result from the superposition of two one-piece fiberglasswoven roving extending from one vessel wall to the opposed vessel wall.

According to optional embodiments of the reinforced electrolytic vessel,positioning of the flat rebars may be chosen according to the thicknessof the wall 8. For example, referring to FIGS. 5 and 9, some flat rebars10 or 12 may be positioned proximate to the inner surface of the core40. Alternatively, referring to FIG. 9, other flat rebars 12 may bepositioned proximate to the outer surface of the core 46.

According to another embodiment not illustrated in the Figures, the flatpultruded rebars may be optionally centered with respect to thecross-section of the wall in a transversal direction and aligned withrespect to one another so as to be substantially co-planar. It should beunderstood that other flat pultruded rebars may be additionally placedproximal to the surface of the wall. Each rebar of the plurality of flatpultruded rebars are elongated so as to be a one-piece rebar extendingfrom one wall to the opposed contiguous wall.

According to another embodiment, a pair of crossed flat pultruded rebarsmay be embedded within each vessel wall, proximate to the outer surfaceof the core of each of the four vessel walls. Optionally, the crossedrebars may be embedded either within the core or within themultiple-layer fiberglass envelope.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 4, a pair of crossed rebars 16 may be embeddedwithin the core 4 each of the four walls 8, proximate to the outersurface 46 of the core. It should be understood that, depending on theposition of the crossed rebars within the core, crossed rebars 16 may bein contact with other horizontal rebars 10 or 12. Referring to FIGS. 6and 8, a pair of crossed rebars 16 and 160 may be embedded within core 4each of the four walls 8, proximate to the outer surface 46 of the core.Optionally, one rebar 16 may be embedded within the core 4 of the vesseland the other rebar 160 may be embedded within the multiple-layerenvelope 14, both proximate to the outer surface 46 of the core 4.

It should be understood that additional horizontal, vertical or crossedpultruded rebars may be embedded within the core or within themultiple-layer fiberglass-based envelope so as to further strengthen thestructure of the vessel.

Referring to FIGS. 10 and 11, vertical elongated fiberglass pultrudedrebars 100 may be embedded in each core wall 8. Optionally, verticalrebars may also be embedded in the multiple-layer fiberglass basedenvelope 14.

Chemical Protection

According to an optional embodiment, a layer of gel coat or otherchemical protection layers or sheets may be present on the inner andouter surfaces of the core, or beneath the multiple-layerfiberglass-based envelope so as to reinforce the chemical bondingbetween the resin of the polymer concrete (core) and the fibers of thefiberglass-based envelope. The gel coat or other chemical protectionlayers or sheets can also offer an additional barrier against corrosion.

According to a particular embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12, three layersare shown ready to be nested into one another. A first top envelope(200) made of fiberglass mat is ready to nest into the polymer-concretecore (220) reinforced with crossed rebars (222) and horizontal rebars(224) embedded within its walls. A bottom envelope layer (240) made offiberglass mat is provided underneath and ready to receive the core.

Process

In a particular embodiment, the process of constructing the electrolyticvessel core is shown upside-down in FIG. 12. The vessel is constructedwith two hulls (i.e. envelopes) in composite fiberglass, one interiorenvelope and another exterior envelope. The inner envelope (200) is madeof a multiplicity of fiberglass layers. While coating the inner hull, orafter coating, the outside hull (240) is constructed of Fiberglas layerson the outer walls of the inner envelope, leaving a space therebetweento form a cavity. Then, the cavity created between the inner hull (200)and the outer hull (240) is filled with Fiberglas rebars (222, 224) thatare held with tools well known in the art (such as studs or pins), Thecavity is then filled layer by layer with polymer concrete to create thecore (220).

Particularly, the rebars' surface may be ground and properly chemicallytreated to provide covalent chemical adhesion between the polymerconcrete resins and the pultruded rebars.

According to a particular embodiment, the first two innermost layers ofthe internal envelope are made of “gel coat” (such as pure resin withlittle chemical additives) to obtain optimal corrosion resistance (i.e.against sulfuric acid and/or Cl₂ and/or Cl⁻, chlorine). These two layersare then baked or cured by heat or catalyst.

After the two gel coats, an anticorrosive fiberglass coat is added onthe outer surface of the inner envelope, such as type A or Type Cfiberglass, and then a further layer of synthetic fiber can be added(such as polyester), or vice versa. These layers are then baked or curedwith chemical or metallic catalyst or by UV curing or infrared curingsystem. These layers are baked following standard heat temperaturecuring system.

Further layers of polymer concrete can then be poured on placed rebars,and the whole vessel is then cooked once more, from 40° C. to 125° C.

Then follows the addition of the outer envelope structural fiberglasslayers with further cooking/baking/heating.

It should be understood that the reinforced vessel is not limited toinclude at least two rebars in each wall of the core as illustrated inthe Figures but may include at least one rebar embedded in at least onewall of the core, optionally in at least two walls of the core,optionally in at least three walls of the core and further optionally ineach wall of the core. It should be understood that the number, shapeand orientation of the rebars may vary and can be chosen to fulfillspecific strength requirements for the vessel.

1.-43. (canceled)
 44. An electrolytic vessel for refining metals, thevessel comprising: a core shaped to hold an electrolytic liquid, thecore comprising a rectangular core base and four walls extendingupwardly from peripheral edges of the core base; and at least twoelongated rebars embedded in the core.
 45. The vessel of claim 44,wherein the rebars are embedded in at least a wall of the core.
 46. Thevessel of claim 44, wherein the rebars are flat whereby theircross-section in a transverse direction is inferior to theircross-section in a longitudinal direction.
 47. The vessel of claim 44,wherein the rebars are made in fiberglass, are pultruded, are arrangedin spaced apart pairs or a combination thereof.
 48. The vessel of claim44 wherein at least one rebar is positioned proximate to an innersurface of the core and/or proximate to an outer surface of the core.49. The vessel of claim 44, wherein the rebars are aligned with respectto one another so as to be substantially co-planar.
 50. The vessel ofclaim 44, wherein at least one rebar is in contact with another rebar.51. The vessel of claim 44, wherein the rebars are unitary and extendfrom one wall to an opposed contiguous wall.
 52. The vessel of claim 51,wherein a size and a shape of one rebar of a wall is different from sizeand a shape of another rebar of the same wall.
 53. The vessel of claim50, wherein the rebars are arranged as at least two rebars in each wall.54. The vessel of claim 50, wherein the rebars of a same wall includesat least two horizontal rebars.
 55. The vessel of claim 50, wherein therebars are distributed along a height of the wall.
 56. The vessel ofclaim 50, wherein at least one rebar is centered with respect to across-section of the wall in a transversal direction.
 57. The vessel ofclaim 50, wherein at least one rebar is placed proximal to a surface ofthe wall.
 58. The electrolytic vessel of claim 44, wherein the corecomprises a matrix comprising concrete or polymer material or a mixturethereof.
 59. The electrolytic vessel of claim 58, comprising at leasttwo elongated rebars embedded in the matrix.
 60. The electrolytic vesselof claim 44, further comprising: a multiple-layer envelope surroundingthe core, the envelope comprising at least one fiberglass-based layer.61. An electrolytic vessel comprising: a core shaped to hold anelectrolytic liquid, the core comprising a rectangular core base andfour walls extending upwardly from peripheral edges of the core base; amultiple-layer fiberglass-based envelope surrounding the core, theenvelope comprising a fiberglass-based layer; and at least oneadditional horizontal or vertical pultruded rebar is embedded within thecore or within the multiple-layer fiberglass-based envelope.
 62. Thevessel of claim 61, further comprising a layer of gel coat or otherchemical protection layers or sheets arranged on inner and outersurfaces of the core, or beneath the multiple-layer fiberglass-basedenvelope.
 63. A reinforced electrolytic vessel for refining non-ferrousmetals, including: a core shaped to hold an electrolytic liquid, thecore comprising a rectangular core base and four walls extendingupwardly from peripheral edges of the core base, the core comprising amatrix comprising concrete and/or polymer material; and a plurality ofelongated pultruded rebars embedded in the matrix and distributedtherewithin to reduce cracking thereof, wherein the rebars areoptionally provided as at least two rebars in each wall, as flatelongated rebars, as fiberglass rebars, as rebars arranged in spacedapart pairs, or mixtures thereof.
 64. A method of reinforcingelectrolytic vessel for refining metals, comprising the steps of:providing a plurality of elongated pultruded rebars; embedding therebars in a matrix to form a core shaped to hold an electrolytic liquid,the core comprising a rectangular core base and four walls extendingupwardly from peripheral edges of the core base; and distributing theplurality of elongated pultruded rebars within the matrix to reducecracking thereof; wherein the rebars are optionally provided as: atleast two rebars in each wall, flat elongated rebars, fiberglass rebars,rebars arranged in spaced apart pairs, crossed rebars, or mixturesthereof.